We are a group of imperfect people pursuing a perfect God. We exist to help each other find and follow Christ. These are some things we want to be true of our group:

We create a safe and honest environment, staying transparent and authentic.

We keep it inside the circle. Confidentiality is necessary for a healthy group.

We look together to the Bible for help and guidance, and keep out our own politics, sales, or agendas.

We do not try to fix each other, preach sermons, or give unsolicited advice. We instead encourage, listen to, and celebrate each other.

We handle conflict between us quickly and honestly by going to the person, owning our part, and practicing forgiveness.

We respect each others’ time by starting and ending when we say we will.

We trust that it is God’s role to change people, not ours.

We believe that in Jesus Christ, there is hope for everyone.

We all knowingly experience guilt in our lives when we do something wrong. But guilt often turns into something far more destructive when it starts trying to define who we are; that is shame. And while shame threatens to define who we are, God has something else to say about our true identity. This Sunday, Mike told a story of Jesus interacting a woman defined by shame, and lifting her head up to see a new way.

Could you relate to Jason's story at the end of Mike's message? Did you resonate with the idea of him masking his shame so he didn't have to deal with it?

CONNECT

Shame and GodThroughout your life, have you associated God with shame or guilt? If so, how has that affected your relationship with or view of God?

APPLY

Jesus breaks down wallsIn John 4:4-9, it says "(Jesus) had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually, he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”

In this story, Jesus breaks down huge racial, relational, and gender barriers. Do you normally think of Jesus as a barrier breaker like that, or is that a new picture for you? What does it tell us about Jesus and his relationship with us?

The woman at the well was an outcast, so she was forced to be at the well at the hottest part of each day. How has shame affected the way you live? How has it brought up your history, challenged your identity, or kept you in your mess?

Jesus gets personalIn John 4:15-26, it says "The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied.Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Jesus demonstrates here that he isn't afraid of getting personal - and when he does that with the woman at the well, she quickly changes the subject. Has your faith journey ever gotten personal in an uncomfortable way? How did you react? Or, how do you think you'd react?

Jesus chooses to get personal because he wants to shine a light on the woman's deepest needs. What area of your life might Jesus be trying to get to that you're resisting?

Jesus knows everythingIn John 4:39-42, it says, "Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”

The woman at the well was amazed that Jesus knew everything about her - and that he didn't use that to shame her further. Sometimes it's easy to forget that God already knows us at our worst - but if we believe that he does, how should it change how we interact with him and actually encourage intimacy?

Jesus uses the most unlikely candidate to spread his message to her entire community, and she uses her vulnerability to tell everyone about Jesus. In what circles does your story have influence? How do you think your vulnerability could make an impact on someone in your life that needs the hope of Jesus?

READ. PRAY. DO.

READ

Genesis, Chapter 3Read the story of the original fall of humanity, and how Adam and Even immediately choose to hide because of their sin and shame.

PRAY

You can use this prayer to kickstart your personal prayer time this week.Father, help me believe what you say is true about me. My shame threatens to tell me who I am, and how unworthy I am of love. But you have something very different to say, and I want to hear it. Help me hear your voice and believe it. Help me find peace knowing that you already know everything about me, and love me anyway. Give me the courage to tell my story, knowing that others will see you more clearly because of the way that you have rescued me.

DO

Steps toward ConfessionJesus may already know everything, but no one else knows what we haven't told them. James 5:16 says "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." Brene Brown says "If you put shame in a petri dish, it needs three ingredients to grow exponentially: secrecy, silence, and judgment. If you put the same amount of shame in the petri dish and douse it with empathy, it can't survive." Knowing that, find some empathy. Choose a safe person, someone who you know will respond with empathy and love, and take a step toward vulnerability and honesty that you haven't taken yet. Experience grace from someone else, and you will start to more fully experience the grace of God.